Your most unreliable car?

[Mr Peas]

I put reliability and performance at the top of my priority list when choosing a car, hence I bought an Octavia after reading many positive reviews.

Don't get me wrong, I still rate it as the best value for money I have spent as far as the whole package goes, but for a 3-4 year old car I have been very unhappy with the reliability.

In 1 year (8K) I have had :-

New clutch at 45K (never had to replace one before in 15 years of driving)

Water pump failure

Thermostat failure

Trapped wire in the ignition

Blown turbo hose

Rear washer does not work

The engine warning light has been on at least a dozen times for one thing or another, I nearly melted the engine when the water pump failed and it drinks 2 litres of oil a year.

This is just what I can think of as I type this. I have decided against a remap as I do not want to put any more strain on the car!

The only car that ever gave me more trouble was a D reg Astra 1.6 which broke down at least once a week (6 year old car)

Even my ancient Maestro never gave me this much grief, and that includes the fact that the carburetor fell off whilst I was driving!

The Octavia is in for an MOT next week. I have been hearing some noise from the rear on slow bends, so will not be surprised if it needs new bushes.

It is on its final warning

I may just have to change it for an Accord type R

[flatfourburble]

Sorry to hear about your problems, just think yourself lucky it wasn't a citroen/peugeot.

I've own 3 and all have been a waste of space, the skoda has been a real dream to own, yes it's had the odd problem but nothing that hasn't been fix whilst it's been in for a service.

[Octygone]

Vaushall astra 1.9tdi ...in three years

two new heads

one gearbox

two clutches

new front wheel bearings

or Vauxhall Astra 1.4 ...in two years

3 engine rebuilds

1 new engine

1 new gearbox

1 clutch

two front wheel bearings

best bit was when one of the cars "broke" again I had taken to vauxhall garage we used and went to see the service manager ......he took one look at me and said .....no not again .............there's got to be something wrong with it

[Mr Peas]

Yes, I would never touch another Vauxhall.

Sorry to hear about those problems, I don't feel as bad now

I would also never have a French car, though the Clio 182 did look tempting.

[Octygone]

by contrast I bought my first skoda brand new ...a 1.9 sdi octavia estate.......34,000 miles and it had 3 services and one minor recall

a lot depends on luck I suppose...theres always that bad car in every make

[72degrees]

Most unreliable: Vauxhall Vectra 1.8LS

Several ECU sensors replaced, and then the ABS controller needed replacing, followed unfortunately by my 5 month old Skoda 2.0Tdi - just back from the dealers after tracing a wiring problem causing the battery to go flat :(

Most reliable: Hondas - Civic 1.6 and a CR-V , followed amazingly by a Fiat Bravo 1.6. Also, recently, to my delight, a '94 Peugeot 306 XLD which I bought for a song just over a year ago with 100,000 on the clock (and probably done nearer 150,000). Once I disconnected the crap factory alarm it has been 100% reliable - the cheapest motoring you could imagine

[yellerRs]

Megane 1.9dci (120) 2003 27000 Miles, Siezed rear callipers three times, fronts once, 4 sets of glow plugs!! ( could not find a fault and in the end caused me to sell car) Interior fell to bits, literally, fuel consumption dropped from an average of 53mpg (reason for buying it) to 38mpg! two main dealers could not cure fault which I believe to be linked to glow plug fault. Dealers were very unhelpful on every visit. Have taken all these matters further with Renault UK. Octavia a far better built car, fuel ecconomy is great for performance. Only time will tell on reliability front. (French S#*T)

[mannyo]

Most unreliable for me was an old Citroen XM, needed the RAC more times than I can remember. P/exd the car with fluid pouring out from underneath, the citroen dealer never managed to fix the hydraulic system problem.

Most reliable, my old octy vRS. Never really put a foot wrong in 57K miles and 4 years with me. The only time I needed to top the oil up was during the first 1000 miles. I wont mention how many nurburgring laps it did, lets just say a lot. My brother now has the car, and despite now being used everyday it still has the original pads and disks from 5 years ago.

[Dave_VRS]

M

[Manguish]

Punto GT.

2 Airbags

2 Wiring Looms

Rear Bushes gone

New steering wheel

4 new rocker gaskets (makes a great mess )

Yadda yadda - the list is endless....

POS tbh.

[metalangel]

Worst: 04 reg Pug 206SW HDi - my company car, only 24,000 miles on it and it was already falling apart! The trim was coming off the interior everywhere, the engine rattled extremely loudly, and the glow plugs were shagged which meant in the middle of a Yorkshire winter, it took a good three tries to get it started.

Best: L reg Volvo 440 - it was absolutely shagged when I bought it and needed its price (

[expostmanpat]

Lada Riva estate:

in 12months

3 clutches

mass of oil leaks

mass of water leaks

windscreen wipers fell off

Door seals

Doors wouldn't lock

Doors woudn't open

Doors wouldn't shut

after 5 months Lada paid for an AA inspection to shut wife up - the car failed

In fairness the car never actually broke down but dealer was crap and eventually Lada suspended their bonuses over our complaints ( as a note the dealer became a Skoda dealer but didn't last long, can't imagine why, now selling Kia or some such) Eventually after much threatening Lada offered us a new vehicle or 2k to 'go away' Took the money and sold the car so must be the only Lada owner to suffer 0 depreciation over a year of ownership of a new car :lol:

[flatfourburble]

Worst: 04 reg Pug 206SW HDi - my company car, only 24,000 miles on it and it was already falling apart! The trim was coming off the interior everywhere, the engine rattled extremely loudly, and the glow plugs were shagged which meant in the middle of a Yorkshire winter, it took a good three tries to get it started.

had the hatch verison just the year before horrible little car!

[Groundzer0]

Most unreliable cars that I have had are:-

Renault 11 Turbo. D reg 71k miles at end 7 years old

Kept eating water pipes. As 5 GT Turbo ones wouldn't fit had to have 5 day special delivery from France.

Rear offside wheel bearing seized.....Very interesting

Drivers seat floor mounts snapped on drivers side bolt holes...... Very interesting when trying to turn right.

Pressue blew an adjusting screw out of carb, had to bodge by forcing a piece of material into hole depending on depth governed idle???

Fog lights stopped working....Went to an auto electrician to find that the majority of the loom under the dash had shorted together into one big gooey mess of wires and plastic..... Electrician didn't know how any of it was still working or why it hadn't set on fire took him ages to replace all effected wires.

Rear hatch smashed by p!ssed students had replacement fitted by Renault every time it rained ended up with at least 4 inch of water in boot. Went back to Renault who said that there was nothing wrong with it. Eventually fixed with black silicon bathroom sealer.

Head gasket went......

[redbaron]

I put reliability and performance at the top of my priority list when choosing a car' date=' hence I bought an Octavia after reading many positive reviews.

Don't get me wrong, I still rate it as the best value for money I have spent as far as the whole package goes, but for a 3-4 year old car I have been very unhappy with the reliability.

In 1 year (8K) I have had :-

New clutch at 45K (never had to replace one before in 15 years of driving)

Water pump failure

Thermostat failure

Trapped wire in the ignition

Blown turbo hose

Rear washer does not work

The engine warning light has been on at least a dozen times for one thing or another, I nearly melted the engine when the water pump failed and it drinks 2 litres of oil a year.

This is just what I can think of as I type this. I have decided against a remap as I do not want to put any more strain on the car!

The only car that ever gave me more trouble was a D reg Astra 1.6 which broke down at least once a week (6 year old car)

Even my ancient Maestro never gave me this much grief, and that includes the fact that the carburetor fell off whilst I was driving!

The Octavia is in for an MOT next week. I have been hearing some noise from the rear on slow bends, so will not be surprised if it needs new bushes.

It is on its final warning

I may just have to change it for an Accord type R[/quote']

i would have returned the car to the main dealer i bought it from and had them rectify it under warranty?

[Martin Keene]

Most unreliable has to be the Octavia. Just feel like I have spent too much time the dealership in the 8 months I've had it getting stupid little problems sorted.

Most reliable? Honda Civic VTi. No surprise there...

[Tdi]

Sorry to hear about your car.

This is going to be a long post but please carry on!. :P

My worst was in 2003 when I bought a P plated Volvo 850 AWD from a main dealer. I went to a dealer for peace of mind. The car cost me a lot of money considering it was 6 years old - almost

[Mr Peas]

i would have returned the car to the main dealer i bought it from and had them rectify it under warranty?

Strangely, most faults have happened since the warranty expired!

Those that did fail within the warrant period were repaired for free, but it took several trips to get each fault sorted. The replaced turbo hose blew off less than a mile away from the garage I had to drive it back sounding like a vacuum cleaner This was a main dealer and they cant even tighten a Jubilee clip :thumbdwn:

So far though, nothing really expensive has failed (touches every wooden object around)

[rich1068]

Most unreliable. MKIV Golf

Most reliable. Octavia

[Decron]

Most unreliable; 51 plate Golf pd100

Most reliable; 1984 Astra 1300s Estate

My Fabia is still too new to pass any judgement.

[WW_VRS]

Most unreliable - one of my Peugeot 205s that had a problem with the carb, flat spot & no hot start possible didn't make for much fun.

Renault 21 blew it's pipes off (hoses more precise) post-getting the heater matrix replaced at vast expense. Garage ended up giving me my money back, but the car was scrapped as the engine was damaged by the overheating.. GRR.

Rover 100 had some real fun getting a working master brake cylinder, two 'new' ones from the parts dept were found faulty. Eventually went to a scrapper instead and fitted one that worked. Have been very lucky so far..

Furby has done 34k and so far a wheel bearing on the front is on it's way out, will be replaced under warranty so no big deal, although I was surprised about how early it's happened. I blame the potholes...

[ChrisRs]

Megane 1.9dci (120) 2003 27000 Miles, Siezed rear callipers three times, fronts once, 4 sets of glow plugs!! ( could not find a fault and in the end caused me to sell car) Interior fell to bits, literally, fuel consumption dropped from an average of 53mpg (reason for buying it) to 38mpg! two main dealers could not cure fault which I believe to be linked to glow plug fault. Dealers were very unhelpful on every visit. Have taken all these matters further with Renault UK. Octavia a far better built car, fuel ecconomy is great for performance. Only time will tell on reliability front. (French S#*T)

Myself and Jonnyboy had Megane's. Both of us had horrendous problems, all similar from electrics to rear tyre wear to bits dropping off. Renault!!:eek: NEVER AGAIN!!:thumbdwn: We both handed our cars back and bought Skoda. Welcome to the club for old Renault owners who have 'seen the light!!'

[Royston]

Most Unreliable car:

FIAT CINQUECENTO SPORTING '96 P I know, I should have known....

ECU failure caused

engine rebuild

new spark plugs

new catalytic converter

full exhaust

New ECU

And the tyres were only made by Pirelli at

[Andyturbo]

vauxhall cavalier 4x4 turbo. What a heap of ****e - everything went wrong. Sensors, bearings, 4x4 box, turbo. Complete money pit - was glad to see the back of it

[Shifty]

Most unreliable - 2001 Y plate Citroen Xsara Vtr coupe.

Over 2.5 years, the dealer almost had it more than I did. Airbag warning lights, door trim fell of a shocking 13 times, new engine required after 15k, which was a week after I got it back with them having just repaired a water leak. Drivers window fell down into the door, gearbox was noisy. The list was endless.

After a not too bad run with Citroens, many BX's in the past, I vowed never to own another French car, so I bought a Pug 306 Hdi estate.

Most Reliable car - Skoda Fabia vrs - 27000 trouble free miles.